# List of Southern University alumni

This is a list of notable Southern University alumni.

## Athletes

| Name | Class year | Notability |
| Fred Bailey | 1996 | former CFL player |
| Al Beauchamp | 1968 | former National Football League linebacker |
| Mel Blount | 1970 | member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame |
| William Breda | 1950 | Negro league outfielder, 1950 - 1954 |
| Lou Brock | | record-setting base-stealing Major League Baseball player |
| Harold Carmichael | 1971 | member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame |
| Darren Clark | 2006 | former MLB baseball player, New York Mets, SU Hall of Fame |
| Willie Davenport | | gold medalist in men's 110 m hurdles at the 1968 Mexico City Olympic Games for the U.S. track team |
| Donnie Davis | 1962 | former NFL, CFL and WFL player |
| Marvin Davis | 1974 | former NFL and CFL player and Grey Cup champion |
| Matthew Dorsett | 1995 | former pro football player, Super Bowl XXXI champion |
| Ken Ellis | 1970 | former NFL player, Green Bay Packers |
| Oliver Ford | | former 100m world record holder |
| Charlie Granger | | former NFL player |
| Tommie Green | 1978 | former National Basketball Association player, New Orleans Jazz |
| Rich Jackson | 1966 | member of the American Football League Hall of Fame |
| Avery Johnson | 1988 | 1999 NBA Champion, 2006 NBA Coach of the Year, University of Alabama head basketball coach, Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame inductee |
| Brian Johnson | | United States Olympic long jumper |
| Ralph Waldo Emerson Jones | | President and baseball coach at Grambling State University, 1936–1977 |
| Tyrone Jones | 1983 | former Canadian Football League all-star and MVP |
| Fred Lewis | | Major League Baseball player |
| Bob Love | | former NBA All-Star and second leading scorer in Chicago Bulls history |
| Rod Milburn | | gold medalist in men's 110 m hurdles at the 1972 Munich Olympic Games |
| Jordan Miller | 2011 | NFL defensive tackle |
| Bobby Phills | | NBA basketball player |
| Isiah Robertson | 1971 | six-time NFL Pro Bowler |
| Bernie Smith | | former Major League Baseball player |
| Donnell Smith | 1971 | former NFL player |
| Godwin Turk | 1974 | former NFL player |
| Rickie Weeks | | Major League Baseball player |
| Aeneas Williams | 1991 | member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame |
| John Williams Jr. | | former NFL player |
| Lenny Williams | 2004 | former NFL and CFL player |
| Jerry Wilson | 1995 | former NFL player |
| Ken Winey | 1987 | former CFL player |

## Entertainers and personalities

| Name | Class year | Notability |
| David Banner | 1997 | music recording artist, producer, actor |
| Jay Scalez | 2015 | music producer, executive |
| Alvin Batiste | 1955 | jazz artist and educator |
| James Booker | | rhythm and blues keyboardist |
| Donald Harrison | 1979 | jazz artist |
| Maurice Brown | | jazz artist |
| Isiah Carey | | television news reporter |
| Randy Jackson | 1979 | musician, record producer, former American Idol judge |
| Faith Jenkins | | Miss Louisiana 2000, Miss America runner-up 2001, attorney, TV personality, star of Judge Faith |
| Branford Marsalis | | jazz saxophonist |

## Politicians, judges and public officials

| Name | Class year | Notability |
| Diana Bajoie | | member of both houses of the Louisiana State Legislature (1976–2008); member of the New Orleans City Council (2012–2013) |
| Kirt Bennett | | Republican candidate for lieutenant governor in 2003 |
| Jay Blossman | 1991 (Juris Doctor) | former member of the Louisiana Public Service Commission |
| Troy E. Brown | | Member of the Louisiana State Senate from 2012 until his resignation in 2017 |
| Barbara West Carpenter | | Dean of international relations at Southern University; African-American Democratic member of the Louisiana House of Representatives since 2016 |
| Israel "Bo" Curtis | | Democratic member of the Louisiana House of Representatives (1992–2008) and the Rapides Parish School Board (1976–1992), former Alexandria educator and insurance agent, did graduate study at Southern |
| Herbert B. Dixon | | Democratic member of the Louisiana House of Representatives (2008–2014) and the Rapides Parish School Board (1992–2008), did graduate study at Southern |
| Irma Muse Dixon | | first African-American elected to the Louisiana Public Service Commission (PSC) |
| Cleo Fields | | former state senator and U.S. Representative for Louisiana's 4th congressional district |
| Mike Foster | 2004 (Juris Doctor) | 53rd governor of Louisiana |
| Randal Gaines | | member of the Louisiana House of Representatives for St. Charles and St. John the Baptist parishes since 2012 |
| Hunter Greene | 1994 (Juris Doctor) | Republican former member of the Louisiana House of Representatives, family court judge in East Baton Rouge Parish |
| Kip Holden | | Mayor-President of Baton Rouge 2005–2017 |
| Dalton W. Honoré | | member of the Louisiana House of Representatives for District 63 in East Baton Rouge Parish since 2010 |
| Hilry Huckaby III | 1969 (Juris Doctor) | Member of Shreveport, Louisiana city council (1978–1990, 1998–2001), Caddo District Judge (1992–1995) |
| Jason Hughes | | member of the Louisiana House of Representatives from District 100 in Orleans Parish |
| Marcus Hunter | 2002 | member of the Louisiana House of Representatives from District 17 in Ouachita Parish |
| Melvin Irvin | | member of the Louisiana House of Representatives for District 58 (based in Ascension Parish) 1984–1988; educator and real estate developer, died in 2014 |
| Alphonse J. Jackson | 1951 | member of the Louisiana House of Representatives from Caddo Parish, 1972–1992; owner of a public relations agency in Baton Rouge |
| Edward C. James | | member of the Louisiana House of Representatives for District 101 in East Baton Rouge Parish; Baton Rouge lawyer |
| William J. Jefferson | | former Representative, U.S. Congress |
| Okla Jones II | | federal judge on the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana |
| Edmond Jordan | | Democratic member since 2016 of the Louisiana House of Representatives for West and East Baton Rouge parishes; lawyer in Brusly, Louisiana |
| James A. Joseph | 1956 | Ambassador to South Africa (1996–1999) |
| Isiah Leggett | | County Executive of Montgomery County, Maryland 2006-2018 |
| Robert M. Marionneaux | | Louisiana state senator since 2000 from Baton Rouge area |
| Dustin Miller | Pending study to be nurse practitioner | African-American Democratic member of the Louisiana House of Representatives for District 40 in St. Landry Parish since 2016 |
| Randy Moore | | first African-American chief of the United States Forest Service |
| Jewel Joseph Newman | | member of the East Baton Rouge City Parish Council, 1972–1984; member of the Louisiana House of Representatives, 1984–1988; community organizer in the Scotlandville neighborhood of Baton Rouge |
| Abe E. Pierce, III | 1956 | first African-American mayor of Monroe, Louisiana (1996–2000) |
| Vincent Pierre | | state representative for Lafayette Parish since 2012 |
| Jewel Prestage | 1951 | first African-American woman to receive a Ph.D in Political Science |
| Rupert Richardson | | African-American civil rights activist and civil rights leader who served as president of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) from 1992 to 1995 |
| Chris Roy, Jr. | 1987 | attorney, former state legislator from Rapides and Vernon parishes |
| Jesse N. Stone | | attorney, educator, served as Dean of the Southern University Law Center and as president of Southern University |
| Dorothy Mae Taylor | | first African-American woman to serve in the Louisiana House of Representatives, 1971–1980 |
| Ledricka Thierry | 1999 | state representative for St. Landry Parish since 2009 |
| Taylor Townsend | | state representative from Natchitoches Parish (2000–2008) |
| Pinkie C. Wilkerson | | Louisiana House of Representatives (1992–2000) |
| Alfred C. Williams | 1972 | member of the Louisiana House from Baton Rouge since 2012; former school board member and attorney |
| Patrick C. Williams | | state representative for Caddo Parish since 2007 |
| Tom Willmott | | Louisiana House of Representatives from Jefferson Parish since 2008 |

## Military commanders

| Name | Notability |
| Joe N. Ballard | lieutenant general (retired), first African-American Chief of Engineers and Commander, United States Army Corps of Engineers |
| Sherian Grace Cadoria | brigadier general (retired), first African-American woman to reach the rank of general in U.S. Army |
| Paris Davis | colonel (retired), one of the first African-Americans to become an officer in US Army Special Forces, awarded the Medal of Honor for actions in the Vietnam War |
| Russel L. Honoré | lieutenant general who commanded the U.S. military support of recovery efforts in the Gulf Coast after Hurricanes Katrina and Rita |

## Academics

| Name | Class year | Notability |
| Karen Butler-Purry | 1985 | professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Texas A&M University |
| Kathie Stromile Golden | 1976 | Provost, Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs, and professor at Mississippi Valley State University |
| William Moore | 1963 | first African-American to graduate with a PhD in chemistry from Purdue University |
| Jewel Prestage | 1951 | first African-American woman to earn Ph.D. in Political Science |
| Morgan Watson | | one of the first African-American engineers at NASA, beginning in January 1964 |